Understanding intention in normal development and in autism

Phillips, Wendy; Baron‐Cohen, Simon; Rutter, Michael

doi:10.1111/j.2044-835x.1998.tb00756.x

Cited by 122 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In false belief tasks, the attribution of the agent's intentions relies on a more competent belief-desire reasoning ability since the default true-belief attribution has to be inhibited to select the appropriate mental content (Friedman & Leslie, 2004;Wimmer & Perner, 1983). However, ToM impairment in ASDs may extend well beyond belief understanding, and include difficulties with the attribution of desires and intentions (Phillips, Baron-Cohen, & Rutter, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral judgment in adults with autism spectrum disorders

et al. 2011

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a b s t r a c tThe ability of a group of adults with high functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger Syndrome (AS) to distinguish moral, conventional and disgust transgressions was investigated using a set of six transgression scenarios, each of which was followed by questions about permissibility, seriousness, authority contingency and justification. The results showed that although individuals with HFA or AS (HFA/AS) were able to distinguish affect-backed norms from conventional affect-neutral norms along the dimensions of permissibility, seriousness and authority-dependence, they failed to distinguish moral and disgust transgressions along the seriousness dimension and were unable to provide appropriate welfare-based moral justifications. Moreover, they judged conventional and disgust transgressions to be more serious than did the comparison group, and the correlation analysis revealed that the seriousness rating was related to their ToM impairment. We concluded that difficulties providing appropriate moral justifications and evaluating the seriousness of transgressions in individuals with HFA/AS may be explained by an impaired cognitive appraisal system that, while responsive to rule violations, fails to use relevant information about the agent's intentions and the affective impact of the action outcome in conscious moral reasoning.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moral judgment in adults with autism spectrum disorders

et al. 2011

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“…However, there are mixed findings from studies examining various aspects of response monitoring in autistic children. Several studies have documented deficits in specific aspects of response monitoring including error correction and avoidance (Russell & Jarrold, 1998) and intention monitoring (Phillips, Baron-Cohen, & Rutter, 1998), but other studies have failed to document self-monitoring as a core deficit in autism (Russell & Hill, 2001). These discrepant findings may be due in part to the lack of consistency in both the definition and the assessment of response monitoring across studies (see Hill, 2004) and may also suggest that responsemonitoring skills are better conceptualized as a modifier of symptom presentation among children with HFA rather than a syndrome-specific deficit.…”

Section: Self-monitoring Of Goal-directed Behavior and Autismmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Modifier Model of Autism and Social Development in Higher Functioning Children

Mundy

Henderson

Inge

et al. 2007

res prac pers severe dis

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The study of phenotypic variability in social impairments and comorbid emotional disorders in autism is important because it provides information on phenotypic differences that currently complicate diagnosis, research, and treatment of this disorder. Currently, though, relatively little is known about the processes that contribute to individual differences in social impairments and comorbidity in autism. In this paper, we present a model that suggests modifier processes (MPs), which are not necessarily specific to the syndrome refractor alter the expression of autism and contribute to fundamental behavioral and psychological differences in children diagnosed with this disorder. One MPs involves the somewhat surprising tendency of some children with higher functioning autism (HFA) to make attributions about other peoples thoughts, although they have social cognitive deficits Just as in other children, the attributions of children with HFA are linked to some of their behavioral problems Another MP involves the influence of differences in motivation associated with the behavioral activation and inhibition systems that can be assessed with measures of anterior EEG asymmetry. This dimension of motivation may be linked to how active but inappropriate and withdrawn children with HFA may appear. Third, differences in the self-monitoring of errors among children with HFA appear to be related to individual differences in IQ and social symptom severity in these children. The possible role of these MPs in diagnostic subgroups and differences in treatment responses among children with HFA are discussed. In addition, the role of MPs in understanding the effects associated with specific genetic functions in autism, such as those associated with the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR), is discussed. A conclusion of this paper is that the varied expression of autism may require that we understand how autism interacts with other non-syndromespecific processes that are related to individual differences in all people. DESCRIPTORS phenotypic variability; comorbity; self-monitoring; motivation and attributional processes; autism Children affected by autism and other pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) display significant individual differences in social behavior, development, and outcomes (Beglinger & Smith, 2001;Prior et al., 1998). These differences are very clear among older children with higher functioning autism (HFA) (Prior et al., 1998) and can be complicated by the presence of comorbid emotional disturbance, such as anxiety and depression (Kim, Szatmari, Bryson, Streiner, & Wilsonet, 2000). Understanding the nature of these differences is important for several reasons. The study of variability in social impairments and comorbidity in autism may assist in understanding phenotypic (i.e., visible) differences that currently complicate diagnosis, research, and treatment of this disorder (Beauchaine, 2003;Beglinger & Smith, 2001;Piven, 2002 its association with depression-and anxiety-related disorders (Bolton et al....

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“…This suggests a desire-based concept of intention. In a related study by Phillips, Baron-Cohen, and Rutter (1998), 4-and 5-year-olds fired "ray-guns" at cans that were rigged so that an experimenter controlled which can fell and whether or not it contained a prize. As in the Schult study (2002), four conditions represented matches vs. mismatches and desirable vs. undesirable outcomes.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Can unpredicted outcomes be intended? The role of outcome-beliefs in children's judgments of intention

Deák

2011

Cognitive Development

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Understanding intention in normal development and in autism

Cited by 122 publications

References 24 publications

Moral judgment in adults with autism spectrum disorders

Moral judgment in adults with autism spectrum disorders

The Modifier Model of Autism and Social Development in Higher Functioning Children

Can unpredicted outcomes be intended? The role of outcome-beliefs in children's judgments of intention

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